Other People’s Money
March 26th, 2008 by Peter SudermanFW Chairman Dick Armey recently took on the issue of earmarks over at Townhall:
There are three groups of people who regularly spend other people’s money: children, thieves, and politicians. All three of these groups need supervision—a watchful, responsible eye who keeps them in line. For children, that means parents. For thieves, that means police and the courts. For politicians, that means America’s many concerned voters.
Supervision is easiest for the first two groups. Children living under the same roof are tough for parents to ignore. Courts and the police are paid to be vigilant regarding the actions of thieves.
Voters, however, have plenty to do in their own lives. Managing homes, jobs, and families takes enough time without having to pay attention to the inner-workings of Washington. In my time as House Majority Leader, I learned that politicians rely on this fact in order to persist in their wasteful ways. Instead of looking for ways to serve their constituents, many in Washington hope the electorate will be too busy to pay attention so that they can continue with their three favorite activities: spending, spending, and more spending.
Nowhere is this clearer than with Congressional earmarks, perhaps the most visible symbol of Congressional waste today.
Right now, 29 people — legislators and candidates for office — have signed FreedomWorks’ earmark pledge. For more on the earmark front, Reason’s Jacob Sullum says that, despite some other disagreements he has with McCain, he’s the only candidate whose commitment to fending off earmarks is at all serious.
